


dreaming

by healing



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 14:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5295704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/healing/pseuds/healing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikleo shifts and curls in on himself further, and suddenly Edna is looking at him. Sometimes he feels like she sees right through him. When did that happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> set post-epilogue, so spoilers.

He doesn't plan on sleeping.

When Mikleo snaps out of his haze, it's with a sharp flick to the forehead. The others are passed out, Rose snoring next to Lailah, who's curled up by the crackling fire that she'd lit hours before, elegant hair splayed out around her. Zaveid is tucked into a corner, dosing with his hat still perched on his head. They'd opted to camp out tonight; they're too far out into the mountains to make the trek back to the nearest inn.

There was a chill in the air up this high, but Zaveid calmed the harsh winds and Lailah kept them warm. He's lost count of nights spent like this. He doesn't know how long they've been traveling with Rose as the new Shepherd, doesn't know how much of the land they've purified, doesn't know how long Sorey has slept and slept. He hasn't been counting.

The passage of time is so strange for Seraphim. Rose understands it better than he does yet, and Mikleo has always wondered if it's been strange for her, to travel with friends who don't seem to grow like she does. She's the one who's changed the most - hacked her hair off when Sorey slept and experimented with growing it out as long as Alisha's afterward, only to cut it all over again. There are traces of laugh lines at the corners of her lips, and her eyes burn as bright a blue as ever, her daggers sharp, her movements not quite as quick as they used to be but still a blur.

And Edna... Well, Edna is the one who's leaning over him this at the moment, staring down at him through lidded eyes. He's not entirely sure whether she's bored, annoyed, or both, and his gaze is passive. 

They all have sleepless nights. Lailah goes off by herself, sometimes, like she always has, and nobody says a word when she returns with a cheerful smile. Rose tends to wander whenever the mood strikes her; Mikleo has caught her staring up at the stars more than once, a dagger Alisha had gotten her clutched tight in her hands, her thumb idly stroking over the name engraved on the handle. Zaveid is the one who sleeps the easiest, but at least he doesn't snore like Rose does.

Mikleo rests. Mikleo rests, but he rarely sleeps. He always dreams the same dream, calloused warm hands, fingers tangled with his, the greenest grass he's ever seen underneath their bare feet, and waking up... waking up is too much. Still too much.

"Hey," Edna snaps, tone sharp, and Mikleo really does look up this time, startled. He must have gotten lost in a daydream again; it happens a lot. His expression narrows into something with a hint of annoyance.

"Why aren't you asleep with the others?" He draws his knees up to his chest with a huff. Muse's staff rest beside him, kept in pristine condition despite its constant use.

"As if you ever sleep," she replies simply, and then without another word she sinks down to sit beside him. Mikleo doesn't respond, just watches the dancing flames and listens to the rhythmic sound of everyone breathing.

It's comfortable, in an odd way, but Edna is the one to break the silence.

"It's been twenty years, today." There's a tilt of her head, but her expression remains blank.

Twenty years? Twenty years since...

Oh.

"Oh."

Mikleo shifts and curls in on himself further, and suddenly Edna is looking at him. Sometimes he feels like she sees right through him. When did that happen?

"He's going to wake up."

"I know," Mikleo says. He knows. Sorey will wake up. They made a promise. Sorey has never broken a promise - he knows. He _knows._

"But not anytime soon."

Her tone isn't sympathetic, isn't anything besides distinctly Edna. Short and matter-of-fact. Miklo has always liked her that way. He doesn't reject it outright, but he still can't stand when the others pity him. It's a good thing they more or less know not to, but sometimes Lailah still pulls him aside to hold his hands in hers and promise him it's going to be alright. It isn't that he doesn't appreciate it - he does - but hell, it hurts.

Mikleo doesn't respond. Twenty years is a whole quarter of a human life, but when it comes to Seraphim, it might as well be the blink of an eye. Rose excluded, they still look exactly the same. It takes centuries longer than humans for Seraphim to grow. He wonders if he'll still be shorter than Sorey, and glances at his mother's staff.

They all do their best to avoid thinking about the inevitable loss, another loss amongst hundreds, but Rose won't be around forever. Alisha, too, and, Mikleo realizes acutely, the same thing would happen to Sorey, were he still here. There's a different sort of pain in his heart when he thinks about that. He'd never wanted to know a life without Sorey at all, but he'll come back, _he'll come back--_

"Are you happy?" Edna asks. Mikleo doesn't know how long the silence has stretched on. He'd been lost again.

"As happy as I can be," he murmurs. It's not a lie. He's not alone. He still has people by his side, people he's come to love with his whole heart, but. But they're not _him,_ and sometimes Mikleo feels like he's asleep, too, like he's walking through life in a haze as thick as the fog up here over Rayfalke.

More silence. She seems to be mulling something over. Mikleo has all the time in the world to wait.

"Eizen," Edna starts, and then Mikleo knows this is serious, because Edna almost _never_ mentions Eizen anymore save for the times they visit his grave to leave a blessing. Maybe that's what brought this on - they're not too far, after all. Mikleo wouldn't be surprised if they made a stop the next day.

Mikleo can't help but think about Sorey coming back as a dragon, bared, sharp teeth and angry yellow eyes, Sorey being _gone,_ lost, and his fists clench. But Edna isn't finished.

"Centuries and centuries," she continues, "and they passed in the blink of an eye. I kept him waiting because of my own selfishness. Zaveid, too." She glances at him, oblivious to their conversation. Mikleo makes a small noise of acknowledgement.

"But my memories with Eizen aren't those painful times. When I think about Eizen, I think..."

She has to stop. Mikleo waits. With a short breath, she presses on.

"I think about him spoiling his rotten little sister. I think about his smile. The little things, and the big things. When I think about Eizen, I don't think about the years and years he was taken from me."

"Edna," Mikleo starts, but she cuts him off with a look. She doesn't want pity, either. He should have known.

"Eizen isn't coming back." It's a simple statement, a matter of truth and nothing else. She's right. He isn't. "But Sorey is." Edna meets his eyes.

Suddenly, he sees where she's going. She keeps going before he can open his mouth.

"So don't end up like Eizen. Don't let this swallow you whole, stupid Meebo. Didn't you two make a promise?"

He nods, staring down at the dirt underneath his feet.

"So keep it. I mean it. Don't you _dare_ end up like Eizen. I'm going to make sure it isn't going to happen, so keep your dream alive, and Sorey will someday wake. This is inevitable. Eizen's fate was, too, but Sorey isn't bound to death. Consider yourself luckier than the rest of us."

She doesn't admit that she's jealous. She'd never admit to that, but Mikleo knows. And still, _still,_ his fists curl again. He doesn't want to wait. Every day without Sorey by his side, sunshine and laughter and warmth, warmth, warmth, is a century in itself.

They've all had losses, though. Everyone here.

Perhaps the people around him are the only ones on this Earth that do understand. Lailah has lost so many people, so many Shepherds, lived through thousands and thousands of years of sorrow and is still able to smile, so beautiful and radiant, and Zaveid... Zaveid has stopped counting his losses. He doesn't talk about it. All Mikleo knows is that there have been hellions - so many hellions, and Zaveid had that gun.

Mikleo swallows thickly before turning to meet Edna's absent gaze. He doesn't know what to say, but he says the only thing he can trust himself to.

"Thank you, Edna."

This time, Edna is the one to look away. She kicks a pebble and turns, hiding behind her parasol.

"Stupid Meebo, thanking people for stupid things. I was just bored. It's hard to sleep up here. A lady needs a proper bed."

She stands up, dusts her dress off, pulls her spotted umbrella up over her shoulder, and without so much as another glance, she slinks off to settle into the space between Lailah and Rose.

Mikleo decides to get some sleep after all.

\---

It isn't easy. It's never been easy. He keeps busy after Rose and Alisha's passing, spending his time between ancient ruins he writes about in pages and pages of journals signed _for Sorey,_ and Elysia - a holy place where he's been designated to fulfill Gramps' role, but it's never, _never_ been easy. He tries, though. The years have made him more and more isolated, but he never gives up. Never gives up on himself, because that would mean giving up on Sorey, too, and that just isn't something Mikleo can allow.

Edna occasionally visits unannounced, and takes off just as abruptly. Lailah and Zaveid, too, but Edna checks on him most.

"Keep your promise."

Mikleo nods for what might be the umpteenth time.

"And get a haircut already. Do you want to look like a girl?"

This time Mikleo glares and pulls said hair back up into a tighter ponytail. He isn't cutting it. There has to be some sort of proof for the years and years he's lived without him.

\---

Seven hundred years after the Lord of Calamity was put to rest, the Shepherd wakes. Mikleo is pulled up and into his chest with a muffled wail and hiccups into that same blue shirt as he cries and cries, clenching the fabric with trembling fists as he sobs, "Sorey, you overslept."

Sorey laughs and threads his fingers through his hair over and over - Mikleo doesn't like letting anyone touch it these days, but it's Sorey, it's _Sorey_ \- and says, "Sorry about that, Mikleo." His smile is guilty but it's still the same, exactly the same. His other hand rubs Mikleo's back, and Mikleo is shaking, sobbing like he hasn't in months and years and _decades_ and seven hundred years, _seven hundred years_ and Sorey is holding him.

There's a lot, so, so much, too much to describe, but next time Mikleo sees Edna - with Sorey by his side, as excitable as ever as he ruffles her hair despite her swatting him away with a smile curving her lips - she turns to Mikleo with a smug grin and says, "Told you."

Mikleo's smile is beyond brilliant.

**Author's Note:**

> edna is such a good big sis ;_;


End file.
